FSBA tourney in middle of two-weekend break in Orlando; current leaders listed

FSBA state tournament's second-weekend leaders are listed as event takes a break.

bowl.com

The Florida State Bowling Association's 80th annual championship tournament is in the middle of a "break in the action" before competition resumes on the weekend of May 10-11 at the 80-lane Boardwalk Entertainment Center in Orlando.

The tourney opened on the second and third weekends of April, but the action has been put on hold. The current two-weekend break is due to the USBC Convention and the Special Olympics, an event that completely fills the host center.

According to the current, unofficial standings, Lauren Bland and Jason Kirk, both of Orlando, set the pace in respective all-events categories. Bland tops the leaderboard in handicap all-events with a nine-game score of 2,349, while Kirk paces scratch all-events with a pinfall of 2,067.

During the second weekend of competition, leadership changed hands in four of the tournament's eight events. In addition to Bland and Kirk, the other new pacesetters are an Orlando team called No Excuse, with a 3,078 in the scratch five-player event, and Robert Platz and Jon Blum of Crystal River, with a 1,669 score in handicap doubles.

Holding the No. 1 position over both tourney weekends are: Gina's Team of West Volusia (3,503 in handicap team), Dallas Smith Sr. of Jacksonville (832 in handicap singles), Tyson Kurth of Ocala (762 in scratch singles), and Dan and Duane Podgorski of Orlando (1,316 in scratch doubles).

Among the top overall individual performances were those posted by second-weekend bowlers Bland, Blum and Mike Mojzak of Orlando.

In addition to her handicap all-events performance, Bland also teamed with Mojzak for the runner-up position in handicap doubles with a score of 1,602. Mojzak also moved into the No. 2 spot in both scratch singles (725) and scratch all-events (2,030).

Blum augmented his handicap doubles performance with the No. 2 placement in handicap singles at 820, only 12 pins off Smith's leading total.

No individuals representing the Sarasota-Manatee County USBC Bowling Association were listed in the Top 10 in any category, although a local five-player team, Jughead's Construction, holds seventh place in scratch team event with 2,667.

The top three in each tournament category are listed below, and for a more-extensive list of current standings, click here.

[You may subscribe to Bill Herald's Examiner.com bowling articles -- free of charge -- by clicking on "subscribe" near the top of the column, after which you will receive e-mail notification each time a new item is published.]

Share this article

Bill Herald, an award-winning bowling writer and longtime member of the Bowling Writers Association of America, authored a column in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune for more than three decades. He has had items published in numerous venues, including Bowling Digest, Professional Bowlers Association yearbooks and Ten Pin Alley. On the lanes, he competed in 31 consecutive national tournaments and 39 consecutive state tournaments and was a member of the Florida All-Star Bowling Association. Contact Bill for comments or questions.